Sunday, December 18, 2005

Everything changes Tom Yest? Perhaps a change will do you good...

At the corner of Eerste Laurierdwarsstraat and Laurierstraat in Amsterdam is where I met Lupita, who would later become my wife and take on the appositive "La Puta." We married November 24, 1971--exactly 23 years before the artist Rob Scholte was to close the door to his dark bleu BMW parked at the corner of Eerste Laurierdwarsstraat and Laurierstraat in Amsterdam. Rob's life changed forever that date (23 years after we wed); my life, too, was to change forever. My wife Lupita, "La Puta," however, changed lovers as often as she changed dirrrty underwear; that is to say, about once every 4-1/2 days. That is to say, nothing changed for her. Ever. After the ceremony, we walked through the Red Light District, spaced out on moon cake and Colorado bulldogs. Along one of the canals, we saw a houseboat tethered to a post with a sign that read "Pussenboat." We boarded it to find a room filled with stray cats and a handful of people, mostly tourists but also a couple of volunteers. Lupita, "La Puta," and I released the rope that had held the pussenboat to the city of Amsterdam, and we sailed out to sea. After 40 days (and 40 nights), we arrived on the Canary Islands, where the story will continue tomorrow....